It's Fall Ya'll!!

This year has been flying by! It seems like just a couple weeks ago we were starting a new school year. Quick update on the goings on in PE right now:


K-2nd: We have been working on kicking skills (soccer). Went over basic ball handling, dribbling, shooting, and really wanted to get outside...however the weather didn't cooperate. We are finishing up soccer now and will be moving on to a new unit after the Thanksgiving break!


3rd- 5th: Flag Football! The students have loved playing flag football...when it's not raining! So as you can guess we are way behind on this unit! We will be finishing soon. For flag football we use the Sport Education Model. This model allows the students to run the class. They will be both players and referees. They must demonstrate their knowledge of the rules by making correct calls and keeping the games running smoothly.
The students are also rated by a 'fair play report.' This report allows the students from opposing teams to rate how well your team performs at non skill related part of the game: sportsmanship, knowledge of rules, respect for opponents...etc. It's a great way for the students to reflect on the activity as a whole!


Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving break!!

Fitness Testing

We have now moved on to fitness testing! I know, some of the students stress out about this, but I keep telling them- it's not about the numbers right now...it's about the effort. If someone wants to get better at any skill (being fit and healthy) they have to work hard at it!
According to the State of Georgia and Cobb County Schools we will be testing you child in the following fitness test:

For Grades 4 & 5:
Height
Weight
Push-ups
Curl-ups (sit-ups)
Sit and Reach (measures flexibility)
Pacer (measures cardiovascular endurance)

**These test are part of the Fitness Gram fitness test. You can look up more information at: http://www.fitnessgram.net/

For Grades K-3:
We will practice those tests, but will only record numbers for height and weight.

Thanks, and stay healthy!!
Coach Jones

More Volleyball...??

So this week we should have been moving on to our next unit and away from volleyball, but thanks to all the snow days we had, we find ourselves way behind. So we are going to stick with volleyball for a couple more days with the older groups (2nd through 5th).
The kindergarten and 1st graders have moved on to jump rope!! This is a rather difficult skill for some of our students. I've been telling them the key to getting better is to just keep working at it and to not get frustrated if they mess up. In PE we never care how many mess ups they have...just as long as they keep giving their best effort!!

Coming up soon we will be shifting to our next unit- Fitness Testing!! Some of the students are really excited about this, while I'm sure you can guess some others are dreading it! We will be testing/measuring the students on the following:

• Height
• Weight
• Push-ups
• Sit & Reach
• Curl-ups (sit-ups)
• Pacer

In order to follow the state and county guidelines- we will be recording height and weight on all students K-5. We will only be recording and reporting the scores on all tests listed above for 4th and 5th graders. I do like to allow the other grade levels to attempt the tests, but we just count those as practice!
Tell your student(s) to just give their best effort. That is all we ask of them!

Thanks
Coach Jones

Volleyball!!

Hey People...wanted to apologize for neglecting my blog lately!! I am going to work on getting more up to date information on here.

Right now our volleyball unit is in full swing for the 2nd through 5th graders. We are getting into our modified games this week (the snow week) and next week as well. The students are doing great with it and are really starting to understand the flow of the game!

For K and 1st grade- we just finished up our intro to volleyball last week. We used balloons because we found out- they move much slower than an actual ball!! The K and 1st graders practiced some pretty sweet skills. Ask them what skills they practiced...hopefully they can tell you- Forearm pass (also called a bump); overhead pass (also called a set); spike (more commonly called a hit).

Since the K and 1st graders don't stick with volleyball as long as the older grades, it's time to introduce them to the next unit- jump rope!! We will be swinging ropes all over the gym!

One thing I could use your help on- please make sure your children are wearing athletic shoes on their PE days. We have had way too many boots lately. I know it's cold, but boots don't work well with PE skills....especially not jumping rope!!

thanks!!
Coach Jones